Sunday, December 23, 2007

Create a superheroine?

According to Shadowline editor, Kristen Simon, “I’d been hoping to see a super-hero book with a strong female lead to act as a counter-point to our popular Bomb Queen series, but none were forthcoming. So I decided to come up with a contest to create a super-heroine for the 21st Century.”

As with any writing job, I see two downsides to submitting: 1) They could reject my idea. 2) They could accept my idea and let everyone know how stupid it is.

The upside is that whatever I can come up with will NOT be the dumbest thing on the pile.

LW -- I don't see the weirdness. The editor's speaking for the Shadowline imprint, and Faerber's teambook may not be from that line.

if the most notable female lead from Shadowline IS Bomb Queen, than a less exploitive female hero would be a counterpoint (she didn't say competition, but a counterpoint) to accusations of sexism from that office.

Are we officially trying to come up with the worst, most insulting ideas? (Besides the ones that have already been done, of course.)

My first thought: a young woman who was accidentally caught in an alien DNA defribulator ray that altered her hormones such that, for five days a month, she has super powers. This has the advantage that editorial would claim it's an "empowering image".

Or perhaps Queen Freon, who (thanks to a freon explosion) can attune herself to any device containing large amounts of freon and teleport herself into it. Again, editorial would be able to claim that this allows women to take command of a stereotype that had previously been considered negative.

For Reference

Professionals Accept My Writing (I know, hard to believe)

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